retired_karamelkel

Cheers Attjen

It was during the run-up to the Barca game that I made a fateful decision. David Main was simply not getting the job done at left back. I decided to sell him and make Batricle the left back with Diawara taking over at center back. The move came after considerable thought. Main would be dropped to the reserves and hopefully would be gone in a short time. The change would take place after the Barca game, so Main had one last shot at glory with Dover. As usual, it was a dinged up starting eleven that took to the Nou Camp pitch ion Tuesday December 4. The only non-injured regulars held out were Faure ad Foulon, who were replaced by Hamilton and Clark. Barca was the cat and Dover the mouse in the first half as we were totally outplayed for the first time since the away game at Dortmund. They out shot us and even held the edge in possession, a rarity. But, the score was level 1-1 at the half, thanks to a superb Clark strike. Italy national team veteran Cassano had put Barca ahead 1-0 on 18. At halftime, the contrast between the two teams was made abundantly clear. Every member of the Barca lineup had been capped for his country at least 11 times and the average was about 45 caps per man. By contrast, we had one international, Craig, in our lineup. Makes quite a difference when you think about it. That said, Dover was gamely hanging in there. Not surprisingly, Barca scored twice more in the second half to take the 3-1 win. At least we didn’t have to worry about Europe for a couple of months. Now I could implement that lineup change before the next game, which was on Sunday next at home against Watford.

The new depth chart for DL and DC was as followed:

DL:
Batricle
Murray

DC:
Diawara
Poggi

DC:
Aimar
TBA

The quicker they go t work, the quicker the new lineup would make an impact. So, I drilled them hard over the next week. Instead of purchasing a backup, Lavange, a 35 yr old central defender and AMC was called up to be Aimar’s backup. As I made the roster move, I released another French reservist so that I could acquire another French prospect or first-team midfielder, depending on what turned up. Fortunately, a first-team midfielder turned up in the scouting file and I quickly made a cash bid for the player in mind. That item was then placed on the back-burner as other things diverted my attention. Diawara’s contract was up in six months and I began contract talks in earnest. Then, near the end of the week, Lecocq suffered an ankle sprain and would be out three weeks. Paterson would be the starter in the meantime. On Friday, Diawara returned to full training and Batricle followed suit. However, I decided not to start Batricle, since he’d had no time to practice all week. So Murray took his place. The only other non-injured regular not to get the nod was Quinn, who was replaced by McCabe. The players elected Diawara to be the new first-team captain. The 19000 at the Crabbe saw the usual dull first half. Watford failed to get a single shot off and Dover, even with a few shots, failed to break the scoreless deadlock by halftime. The second half saw more offense, but Dover, despite playing extremely well, failed to take the 1-0 lead until 80, when Miller jumped on a loose ball and drove it back through the box. Dover held on to the victory, which moved them up to seventh in the standings. In the closing minutes, Murray limped off with an injury. After the game I was told he would be out for two weeks after breaking his toe.

retired_karamelkel

The beginning of the holidays is always a good time to reflect on one’s life and the year that has just passed. In my case, this reflection was sorely needed. I was still in shock. Contrary to what the media says, change is not easy to deal with, particularly in a high-pressure occupation like professional sports. That change is even harder to handle when it is a sudden break from what ever transpired before. In my case, going from West Ham in 2009 to Dover 2007 in the span of six hours, presumably switching over while I was sleeping. Ever since downing those two pints of bitter the morning of the change, I hadn’t given my situation too much thought. Sure I scanned McIntosh’s blog to read his tales of managing West Ham and laugh at his follies. Beyond checking to see if Ellen Keating had existed in this reality, I had done nothing about my situation. My sub-conscious mind had allowed me time to evade the question of why the hell I was at Dover and not West Ham. Now the question was assaulting me daily. Why? Because of damned holiday cheer. You see, at the beginning of the season, people had left me alone for the most part. They just assumed that I was being eccentric and burned out when I couldn’t recall last season details. Now that the Christmas season was nigh, my façade of eccentricity was beginning to show cracks. The trouble was that when players, staff and the public wished me a Merry Christmas or what have you, they would add some reminisce of the championship season. Invariably, they would ask if I remembered Craig’s goal in such and such game, or a Calleja cross. Those I dealt with by simply smiling and nodding. If that had been the end of things, the trouble would have been avoided.

But, that wasn’t the end of it. Some people, mostly serious fans, pundits and other so called “experts� felt the need to probe deeper into the reasons for the championship season. They would inquire as to the reasons for subbing player X into game or situation Y and ask me if I felt the move had worked. Worse, many of these people wanted an analysis of the 4-5-1 that “I� had used previously. That fact was that only having ‘arrived’ in June, I couldn’t answer these questions because had no clue. I could tell you all about the formation I’d imported from West Ham, but not the former Dover one. As such, my answers to strategic questions began to draw fire. Commentators were beginning to wonder if “Pascal McIntosh� was going senile. Many noticed the change in tactics, the change in personnel. The change in practice and most of all, the change in personality. For many, the last was the real evidence that “Pascal� had gone insane. Apparently, my former self had been hot-tempered, mean and hated the English. I couldn’t bring myself to act like that, it wasn’t my personality.

The upshot of all this was that I began to hear jokes about alien possession, or worse, old-age jokes and even blind jokes (because I couldn’t “see� what had changed.) Mostly, it was in good fun as few people really cared what happened as long as the team was doing reasonably well. Not everyone agreed however. A group of rabid Dover fans started circulating a petition on the net which stated that I was mentally unhinged based on the changes I had brought to the team. More worrisome were the strange looks I got from Dover staff as I bade them good morning or good night. That young clerk in the PR department had never forgotten that ‘strange’ blowup I had had. I got the feeling that he was talking behind my back. Of course, these issues and troubles had always been present, but the cheery holiday spirit and the rounds of cheer, just seemed to bring the stuff to the forefront. Nothing spoils a cover like gabby people and emcees. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take the much-needed break and reflect and rebuild public confidence in “Pascal McIntosh.� I was too busy managing football games in what was proving to be a grinding schedule far more pressure-packed than West Ham. So much for the holidays.

We didn’t have much of a break as we had to travel to Liverpool to face Liverpool FC on Wednesday December 12.

Much to my surprise, Montpelier accepted our bid for Julian Descamps, the midfielder I mentioned earlier. Descamps’ terms were easy, the man must really want first-team football. I hoped he would accept in a hurry so that I could reconfigure my lineup. The next day, we resigned Diawara to a three-year deal. On Tuesday Descamps came to terms and would figure in the plans after the Liverpool game. Batricle returned to the lineup at his new left back position for the Liverpool game. The only non-injured regulars out were Abiven, who began his three-game suspension and Quinn, who was about to lose his starting position. Gatumel played goalie and McCabe took Quinn’s spot. I had made a couple of changes to the system to see if that could break our bad road play. In fact, my ideas actually worked. Liverpool was not prepared for an attacking, aggressive Dover team that was playing off the Liverpool players on defense. Faure put in a corner on 13 that Foulon calmly headed into the net for the 1-0 Dover lead. We retained that lead going into intermission. But, Perez pulled up injured and McCabe was having trouble playing up-tempo, so both had to be replaced at halftime. Foulon added what seemed like a game-winner on 55, but Liverpool managed to get the game tied 2-2 by the 85th minute. Still an offensive draw as not a bad thing and showed that we could be more competitive than we had been in enemy stadiums. The confidence booster was needed as we had to travel to Chelsea next on the weekend for a game on the 15th. By then, the new lineup would be in order. Perez was out for the next two weeks with a gashed leg and he would be replaced by Munoz in the interim.

The Descamps transfer set a new season high for money spent on transfers at a whopping 19M pounds. But, I regarded it as money well spent. The midfield saw the following depth chart switches. Quinn was bounced to the reserves and put up for sale.

LNC
Descamps
Sinclair

CMC
Miller
McCabe

retired_karamelkel

The beginning of the holidays is always a good time to reflect on one’s life and the year that has just passed. In my case, this reflection was sorely needed. I was still in shock. Contrary to what the media says, change is not easy to deal with, particularly in a high-pressure occupation like professional sports. That change is even harder to handle when it is a sudden break from what ever transpired before. In my case, going from West Ham in 2009 to Dover 2007 in the span of six hours, presumably switching over while I was sleeping. Ever since downing those two pints of bitter the morning of the change, I hadn’t given my situation too much thought. Sure I scanned McIntosh’s blog to read his tales of managing West Ham and laugh at his follies. Beyond checking to see if Ellen Keating had existed in this reality, I had done nothing about my situation. My sub-conscious mind had allowed me time to evade the question of why the hell I was at Dover and not West Ham. Now the question was assaulting me daily. Why? Because of damned holiday cheer. You see, at the beginning of the season, people had left me alone for the most part. They just assumed that I was being eccentric and burned out when I couldn’t recall last season details. Now that the Christmas season was nigh, my façade of eccentricity was beginning to show cracks. The trouble was that when players, staff and the public wished me a Merry Christmas or what have you, they would add some reminisce of the championship season. Invariably, they would ask if I remembered Craig’s goal in such and such game, or a Calleja cross. Those I dealt with by simply smiling and nodding. If that had been the end of things, the trouble would have been avoided.

But, that wasn’t the end of it. Some people, mostly serious fans, pundits and other so called “experts� felt the need to probe deeper into the reasons for the championship season. They would inquire as to the reasons for subbing player X into game or situation Y and ask me if I felt the move had worked. Worse, many of these people wanted an analysis of the 4-5-1 that “I� had used previously. That fact was that only having ‘arrived’ in June, I couldn’t answer these questions because had no clue. I could tell you all about the formation I’d imported from West Ham, but not the former Dover one. As such, my answers to strategic questions began to draw fire. Commentators were beginning to wonder if “Pascal McIntosh� was going senile. Many noticed the change in tactics, the change in personnel. The change in practice and most of all, the change in personality. For many, the last was the real evidence that “Pascal� had gone insane. Apparently, my former self had been hot-tempered, mean and hated the English. I couldn’t bring myself to act like that, it wasn’t my personality.

The upshot of all this was that I began to hear jokes about alien possession, or worse, old-age jokes and even blind jokes (because I couldn’t “see� what had changed.) Mostly, it was in good fun as few people really cared what happened as long as the team was doing reasonably well. Not everyone agreed however. A group of rabid Dover fans started circulating a petition on the net which stated that I was mentally unhinged based on the changes I had brought to the team. More worrisome were the strange looks I got from Dover staff as I bade them good morning or good night. That young clerk in the PR department had never forgotten that ‘strange’ blowup I had had. I got the feeling that he was talking behind my back. Of course, these issues and troubles had always been present, but the cheery holiday spirit and the rounds of cheer, just seemed to bring the stuff to the forefront. Nothing spoils a cover like gabby people and emcees. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take the much-needed break and reflect and rebuild public confidence in “Pascal McIntosh.� I was too busy managing football games in what was proving to be a grinding schedule far more pressure-packed than West Ham. So much for the holidays.

We didn’t have much of a break as we had to travel to Liverpool to face Liverpool FC on Wednesday December 12.

Much to my surprise, Montpelier accepted our bid for Julian Descamps, the midfielder I mentioned earlier. Descamps’ terms were easy, the man must really want first-team football. I hoped he would accept in a hurry so that I could reconfigure my lineup. The next day, we resigned Diawara to a three-year deal. On Tuesday Descamps came to terms and would figure in the plans after the Liverpool game. Batricle returned to the lineup at his new left back position for the Liverpool game. The only non-injured regulars out were Abiven, who began his three-game suspension and Quinn, who was about to lose his starting position. Gatumel played goalie and McCabe took Quinn’s spot. I had made a couple of changes to the system to see if that could break our bad road play. In fact, my ideas actually worked. Liverpool was not prepared for an attacking, aggressive Dover team that was playing off the Liverpool players on defense. Faure put in a corner on 13 that Foulon calmly headed into the net for the 1-0 Dover lead. We retained that lead going into intermission. But, Perez pulled up injured and McCabe was having trouble playing up-tempo, so both had to be replaced at halftime. Foulon added what seemed like a game-winner on 55, but Liverpool managed to get the game tied 2-2 by the 85th minute. Still an offensive draw as not a bad thing and showed that we could be more competitive than we had been in enemy stadiums. The confidence booster was needed as we had to travel to Chelsea next on the weekend for a game on the 15th. By then, the new lineup would be in order. Perez was out for the next two weeks with a gashed leg and he would be replaced by Munoz in the interim.

The Descamps transfer set a new season high for money spent on transfers at a whopping 19M pounds. But, I regarded it as money well spent. The midfield saw the following depth chart switches. Quinn was bounced to the reserves and put up for sale.

LNC
Descamps
Sinclair

CMC
Miller
McCabe

retired_karamelkel

Hopefully the switch would improve midfield play, which had been shaky all year long. Three days later, after much drilling on the training pitch, we traveled to London to play Chelsea. I had to fight down the tension I felt before the game. This was not a London derby. Dover could lose or draw and not get flayed by the media. Still old habits die hard and I found myself gulping coffee to remain alert as I worked on the lineup. Only the youngsters Foulon and Miller got the day off and were replaced by Clark and Lavange, who was making his first start under the ‘new’ regime. Chelsea was clearly prepared for us and cleaned our clocks in the first half. They clearly anticipated our tactical adjustments from the previous game and left winger Bradley had the run of the left flank, totally abusing a shell-shocked Munoz who let Bradley score three on him. Thus, by halftime, the game was over. The only thing left to determine as the extent of the beating. Faure scraped a goal for Dover in the opening minutes of the second half and that was all she wrote as Chelsea wrapped up an easy 3-1 victory for them. We would face Tottenham in London in our third straight road game on Wednesday. December 19. That game would also mark the half-way point of the league season. It had been a long, tough grind thus far this season and the slog would continue.

To keep myself amused, I made it a point to check Pascal’s blog on occasion. The night following our last game, I checked as usual. When I read it, I fell out of my chair in shock. I picked myself up, and looked again. Nothing had changed. I went to the kitchen and poured a shot of bourbon and tossed it back. I returned to the computer, the blog still there, unchanged. As the alcohol rush hit, I stared bleary-eyed at the monitor. It couldn’t be. But, there it was in black type on a pastel background. Pascal had managed to actually convince the idiot of a chairman to improve the practice facilities. As I read the story of how he did it, my admiration grew. Pascal had done something I never thought of doing, basically threatening to quit if things didn’t improve. He had gotten the fans on his side and the chairman had caved. Impressive to say the least. Not only that, but he’d thrown that Keating bitch out of the house. As I had observed from his Dover entries, when Pascal gets angry, heads roll. In addition, he had kept the West Ham ship of state dialing smoothly, doing neither better or worse than I had done in my last season. I poured another shot and raised my glass to toast Pascal on a job well done. At least one of us was having success in transition.

When the match day arrived, all the regulars not injured or suspended got the starting nod. White Hart Lane was stuffed with 31000 fans. Both sides actually displayed some offense in the first half. Tottenham got a late goal to pull ahead 1-0 with two minutes left until halftime. Five minutes into the second half, right back Landrin took a free-lick and lobbed it Craig’s way. Craig leaped and blasted a header to tie the game 1-1. The score remained that way despite both team’s increased offense. On 66 Foulon limped off with an injury. The rest of the game was spent making damn sure that Tottenham didn’t score. Dover would take a draw. After the game I was told that Foulon had a twisted ankle and would be out for three weeks. Unfortunately, there was no half-way break for the league season and we continued our march with a December 22 home match versus Newcastle.

The most important lineup news was that Abiven returned to goal. Landrin again took the right back spot and Poggi played for Batricle, who got the day off. In addition, Craig also got the day off, with McCann spelling him. In short, given the injury scratches, this was a backup-heavy lineup. I could only hope that they would be competitive against the Brown Ale team. The 19000 Crabbe faithful who attended every home Prem game lent their loud support. They didn’t see much action; it was a typically dull Dover half, except for a freak double injury that sent Aimar and McCann carted off the field at the same time. The second half was even duller and the game ended a scoreless draw. The draw dropped Dover to 8th in the Prem. The next contest was a game on the day after Christmas. Dover would take on Liverpool at the Crabbe. Aimar would be out for a week and a half with a broken toe, an injury that seemed to be rather common this season. McCann had suffered a groin strain and would be out three weeks. The injuries were mounting and I began to wonder if I would even have a squad left by January. The lineup for the Liverpool game saw the return of Lecocq to the starting lineup. All the non-injured regulars took their place in the lineup as well. Poggi took Aimar’s place and Robertson filled in for Foulon. The 19000 filled the stadium again, but to be fair, they didn’t help much. Liverpool scored on the one shot they took all half and they had the 1-0 at the half. Dover just could not muster any offense as they landed one shot on-target. It was a heartbreaking loss, particularly since we needed to start winning if we weren’t to drown in mid-table obscurity. We had no time to rest as we would wrap up a December schedule with a Saturday afternoon game on the 29th at Aston Villa.

The main news leading up to the Aston Villa game was that McCabe, Lavange and reserves man Ritchie all announced their plans to retire at the end of the season. The lineup saw the return of Perez, but Batricle, Miller and Lecocq were all too unfit to play, being replaced by Murray, McCabe and Paterson respectively. The return of Perez seemed to galvanize the Dover lineup and Craig gave us the 1-0 lead as the defense shut down the Villa offense in their own stadium. This was the easiest half that Dover had had on the road in quite some time. I only hoped that it would stay that way. Craig added a second goal late in the second half to ice the game in Dover’s favor. It was only our second away victory all season. Our next game was a Tuesday evening contest, a January 1 home game against Arsenal. Hopefully, we could get the New Year started on a good note.

I’m sure the players weren’t expecting what happened next. I had been trying to figure out a way to get this team out of the rut. I had studied film until my eyes were shot and had decided to make a bit of a tactical overhaul, since it appeared that no one could play the CMC position, I decided to drop it back into a DMC role. The DMC would function as the key man to imitating the Dover offense, much like a point guard in basketball. He would have space to dribble up field and asses his options. Towards this end, I dropped Hamilton to the reserves and brought back Rosales. Back up. I also switched Batricle back to DC as the young lad just did not have the energy needed to play fullback. To make room for McNab, who had been called back up, I sent Lavange back down. Thus, as of January 1, the new depth chart posted in the locker room was:

DL (Rotation)
Murray
McNab

DC:
Batricle
Poggi

DC
Diawara
Aimar

DMC (Rotation)
McCabe
Rosales

MC:
Descamps
Miller
Sinclair

MC
Faure
Miller

retired_karamelkel

Miller seemed to be having trouble staying fit, so I decided to make him a key backup for the rest of the season. In addition, I made Diawara one of the regulars over Aimar. So, new tactic and lineup in hand, we hosted Arsenal. If nothing else, we would surprise them.

Perez and Craig were the only non-injured regulars held out of the lineup and Landrin and Paterson took their place. Murray and Rosales got the start at their positions. The first half of the new tactic seemed to pass muster as the only reason Dover didn’t score was erratic shooting. Meanwhile, Arsenal failed to get a single shot off. At the half, I pulled Clark, who was having a bad game. Lousy shooting continued to plague Dover in the second half and we were unable to answer Arsenal’s lone goal late in the half, thus losing to the Londoners 1-0. It was only our second loss all season at the Crabbe and the 19000 faithful were disappointed to say the least. I could only hope that the shock of a home loss wouldn’t demoralize Dover. Then, I remembered, this was not West Ham.

We would finally get a week off before traveling to London to play Charlton on Sunday January 13. Match day arrived without much fuss. The big piece of news was that Foulon was fully relaxed and ready to start. That meant all the regulars to the start for the first time in a while. McCabe and McNab were placed in the lineup as the rotation went their way none of the lineup changes did any good. Charlton destroyed us 2-0 as we couldn’t shoot straight for a second game in a row. The only consolation was that we had six days off until the next game, a weekend home contest against Derby. The game arrived quickly, a good thing in my opinion, as we needed to reverse the losing skid before it became difficult to motivate the players. Derby, even though the game was at the Crabbe, would be a bit tougher game than usual because the Derby manager was holding onto his job by a mere thread. I started the same lineup as I had against Charlton, except that Murray and Rosales were rotated in. The usual 19000 showed up at the Crabbe to watch the usual first half, a scoreless draw. Dover couldn’t score and Derby failed to get a shot off. The game ended as a scoreless draw. Dover simply could not pout the ball into the net. We seemed mired in a mid-season slump. Next up would be a home game against Ipswich in two weeks on Sunday February 2.

To start the two week break, we received a hatful of offers for reserve man Christie, which were all accepted. The lad quickly came to terms with Bristol County and he departed rapidly. After that, Dover was finally entered into the FA Cup 5th round, drawing a home game against Arsenal on February 16. Hamilton left for Abroath shortly thereafter, leaving us with two reserve spots to be replaced with Scots. But, before I could take a look at the Scots youngsters that my scouts had found, the Ipswich game intervened. All the regulars got the start and McNab and McCabe took their turn in the rotations at their respective positions. The game finally broke our winless streak. The 19000 fans at the Crabbe, who had every reason to be pessimistic, watched in disbelief as Ipswich failed to get a shot all day long. In the meantime, I had told the Dover lads to attack and attack they did, taking fourteen shots. Lecocq and Clark scored goals late in the second half to seal the much-needed 2-0 win. That win would hopefully be a springboard of confidence as Dover got set to begin another grueling stretch of two or three games a week, beginning with an away game at Bolton on the 6th of February.

There was plenty to occupy myself before the middle of the week. First, I looked at Scottish youngsters who my scouts had found. Using transfer funds that were rapidly diminishing, I made a couple of bids. Then, the UFFA called about registering players for the resumption of the CL in two weeks. I shuffled the roster a bit and handed in a revised list that saw the entire first team entered. Hearts rejected my offer for Scott McMillan, so I upped my bid. Then, the Bolton game arrived on Wednesday evening. All the regulars got the nod, with Murray and Rosales starting as well. The 24000 at the Reebok Stadium saw a Dover team that had regained its mojo. Faure contributed a goal on 38, working a give and go with Lecocq to give Dover the 1-0 lead at the half. In the meantime, the Dover defense shut Bolton down, allowing them only one shot. We held onto the 1-0 lead in the second half as well, pouring out ream of shots. The two wins in a row pushed Dover back up to seventh in the league. Next up was a weekend contest at cellar-dwellers Oldham.

After the game, we received word that Ayr had accepted our bid for Brown, a promising DLC, would have been capped at the U21 level. The youngster quickly came to terms. Hears accepted our premium bid for McMillan and he quickly agreed to a contract. Then we had to go to Oldham. It was McNab and McCabe’s turn in the lineup and they joined all the regulars except Craig, who got the day off. The game saw Dover win its third-straight game. We took control early as Paterson slipped a ball in on 18 to give us the 1-0. The rest of the half saw us stifle Oldham’s offense. They managed to tie the game early in the second half on their only on-target shot of the day. Foulon, who had been in a bit of a slump since returning from his injury scored on a brilliant breakdown off the dribble to give Dover the 2-1 win.

retired_karamelkel

It was good that we were on a winning streak as our next game was a home game against Ajax on Tuesday February 12 as the CL started up again. The lineup against Ajax saw Murray and Rosales take their turn. In addition, Batricle and Foulon were given the day off in favor of Aimar and Clark. Slightly less than 13,000 turned out for the game. The first half saw the Ajax offense get stuffed as Craig nailed a bullet header to give Dover the 1-0 lead at halftime. Lecocq added a late goal to put the game on ice as Dover won 2-0. Ajax had failed to have a single shot all evening. Dover was now starting to play as they had at the beginning of the year. I hoped it hadn’t come too late. Next up was the February 16 FA Cup match against Arsenal.

The game against the Gunners arrived. Perez was the only regular given the day off and McNab and McCabe took their turn the rotation. Only 9500 came out for the match, a rather disappointing crowd. But then, Dover fans had become a mite spoiled over the years. Dover performed well against Arsenal in the first half, keeping the game level at 0-0. The Red only got one shot aimed at Abiven, making his life rather easy so far. But, he lost his touch in the second half, letting in two goals. To be fair, one of the goals was a penalty. Still Arsenal won 2-0 as Dover was unable to put the ball past the Gunners keeper. I wasn’t heartbroken over the FA Cup loss; I had more important things to worry about, like our next game a Wednesday evening fixture in Amsterdam versus Ajax.

The Ajax game came without any controversy to distract us in the prior days. The lineup actually contained every regular plus Murray and Rosales. Ajax took the lead late in the first half on a Hernandez strike. Dover played well, but couldn’t push the ball past Vandenberg. They iced their first group win by scoring on 80 for the 2-0 victory. Meanwhile, Faure limped off the field two minutes before time. The trainers told me that he would miss the next three weeks with strained knee ligaments. Miller would take Faure’s place in the lineup starting with the weekend with a home game against Fulham. Against Fulham, all the non-injured regulars except for Foulon, replaced by Clark, got the starting nod. 19000 Crabbe faithful saw a strange first half. Fulham took the early lead a half-hour in when Fortadis nailed a header. Then, a few minutes later Perez went off with an injury. Then, Lecocq tied the game with a strike, but a minute later, Clark was ejected from the game. Despite all the drama, the score remained tied at halftime. Given the trouble in the first half, I would have been satisfied with the draw. However, substitute Robertson, cracked a goal on 65 after coming into the game five minutes earlier. Then, three minutes later, Craig drilled a header to make the score 3-1. Dover then coasted to the win by burying the Fulham offense the rest of the way. The win solidified our hold onto 7th place. The home stretch was beginning for the Premier as each team now only had ten games left to play. Perez would be out for three weeks with strained ankle ligaments. <Munoz and Landrin would rotate at right back until he returned.

Dover actually had the week off until the next game, a Saturday March 1 contest against Millwall at the New Den. February ended with a nice surprise as I won the Manager of the Month award. The lineup for the Millwall game saw rotation players Munoz, Murray and Rosales take the pitch. In addition, Diawara was suspended for the game and Aimar took his place. Every other regular got the nod. Foulon broke down the defense early on 8 to give Dover the early 1-0 lead. Millwall didn’t panic and Clark tied the game for them on the half-hour. In fact, Millwall seemed to handle the Dover defense quite well, getting four shots during the half. Ten minutes into the second half, I pulled game captain Craig, who was haven’t the worst game of the season. McCann came on for him. Then on 72, Lecocq went off with an injury. Then, on 81, McCann, who seemed to be channeling vintage Craig, blasted a shot through on 81 to net Dover the late 2-1 win. Lecocq would be out for three weeks with a broken toe. Paterson would take his place in the lineup. The next game for Dover would be a CL match on Wednesday March 4 in Rome against Inter.

The Inter game didn’t really matter all that much to me. So, the lineup saw McNab, Landrin, McCabe, Sinclair (for Descamps) and Roberson (for Foulon) as well as Paterson getting the start. As expected, Inter schooled us the art of fop-flight European football. They took a 2-0 lead in the first half even though Dover didn’t play badly. Inter killed the clock the entire second half, graciously declining to run up the score, a gesture I appreciated. The next game we had would wrap up our European campaign with a home game against Barcelona in a week. For that game the lineup was Munoz, Murray and Rosales in rotation turns plus most of the other regulars. Again, I wasn’t too worried about this last European game. We would as good as done unless Inter lost in the other group game. Nearly 13000 were in the Crabbe for the game and they were electrified when Foulon struck quickly on 8 to give Dover the 1-0 lead against the European giants. Then, Foulon limped off with an injury on 40, dampening the crowd a bit. The second half was a battle as Barcelona tried to save face. Ward managed to tie the game late. Then, in a case of youth being served, Miller, in injury time. Slipped by all those interneuron players to nestle the ball into the back of the net to give Dover the shock 2-1 win and deal the Spanish side their only loss in the group stage. However, Inter beat Ajax and advanced. Dover went home, fuming about losing Foulon for two weeks with a foot injury. We would pick up Premier League action again on Monday with a home game against Everton.

I was really glad to be done with the European campaign. At least I would have a fresh lineup for the last few Prem games. The lineup saw the return of Faure, who was cleared to play. Robertson took louver for the injured Foulon and McNab, Landrin and McCabe took their rotation turns. The 19000 who filled the Crabbe were treated to an exceptionally dull first half. Both sides took a total of one shot, and it missed. The slick pitch was giving both teams trouble and to be honest, I wouldn’t have blamed the crowd for walking out. But, loyalty proved strong and they stuck around for the second half. The fans were duly rewarded. Dover hit on 9 of 11 shots taken in the half. That led to three goals from Craig, McCann and Robertson for one of our easiest wins in a long time. The 3-0 thrashing kept us in seventh place, but we were finally knocking on the door to return to Europe next season. We would have 12 days off until we had to go to Sunderland for our next league match.

retired_swmchick2006

Always going to be a tough CL group. Shame Foulon can't seem to stay healthy. C'mon Dover!

retired_karamelkel

I finally got around to checking Pascal’s blog for the first time in a while. I saw that he had posted short snoops of the next season. O’Conner had been sent to a D2 side and predictably had a Hall of Fame year once he was out of the limelight. The trade-off would be that he would probably never play for Scotland again, if I remembered right, the Scots manager never picked anyone from lower than the English First Division. I also saw that Pascal had made a brilliant move, signing Sebastian Frey, only to watch the move blow up rather quickly. It was fast becoming evident that the switch wasn’t really gong to change much. Pascal would struggle with West Ham and I would coast with Dover. I just hoped Pascal would be able to deal with the Alliance when the time came. Perhaps he could fast-talk his way out of trouble. These musings got me to thinking for the umpteenth time, why the switch had been made. I knew Pascal was doing some detective work on the question, but he had no better answers for all his hard legwork. I essentially got the same answers staring into a glass of bourbon. But then, questions of cosmic importance are rarely if ever answered to satisfaction. So far, unlike Pascal, I had no links to my past. I was marooned in this time. It was pleasant in its way, but I really wanted to return home. All I could hope for was that one night I would fall asleep and wake up right with the world again.

The Everton game saw two Dover club records fall. First, Craig set the career mark for league goals at Dover with 61 goals in almost four full seasons. The second record was career league appearances for Dover set by Diawara with 133 games. These two players were honored after the game for their remarkable accomplishments. I was sorry that I hadn’t been there for most of the run. During the next days, players like Perez, Foulon and Lecocq all recovered from their injuries. Dortmund and Milan came in with bids for Batricle. I told them I wouldn’t accept anything under 17M pounds sterling. The kid was a legit superstar at the tender age of 22 and I was not going to be cheated. Of course, both teams gave up in a hurry. I then offered a fat new contract to Batricle to keep him around and happy for a few more years. The trip to the Stadium of Light was our last game in March. The lineup was filled with all the regulars and Murray and Rosales. The nearly two week layoff probably made us a bit rusty. Davidson scored on just the 12th minute to give the Cats the 1-0 lead which they held through the half. We couldn’t tie in the second half and Faure strained his ligament again and would be out for three more weeks. The next game would be against Tottenham at the Crabbe.

Batricle rejected our first contract offer, so I gave him another. All the regulars plus McNab and McCabe got the start as Robertson filled in for Faure. The 19000 saw the usual dull half, which ended scoreless as they normally did. The game ended as a scoreless draw as the Hotspur keeper played his best game of the season. At this point, Dover was entrenched in seventh place in the Prem, so results were not excessively important at this moment. Our next game would be next Saturday, April 12 at Old Trafford against Man U.

During the week in training, I announced that McNab and McCabe would be the starters at their positions for the rest of the season, which covered about five games. ? Both were playing well and deserved the chance to play. The Tottenham game saw one more club record set as McCabe became the oldest player to play a first-team game in club history. In addition, Batricle signed a new six year deal that would make him a very wealthy young man. In addition, Batricle won the Young Player of the Year award, beating out teammate Foulon for the honor. They weren’t the only Dover players selected for post-season awards. Both Abiven and Craig were named to the All-Premier team. After being informed of the awards, I offered new contracts to Foulon and Craig. Interestingly, Craig declined to negotiate a new contract, though he was the least paid of the club stars. Foulon quickly agreed to a new contract that would make him rich beyond his boyish dreams. All the regulars got the nod for the Man U game. Miller took over for Faure. The first half was strange as Man U’s defense was far superior to their offense. Craig drilled a penalty so that Dover took the early 1-0 lead. However, for the third time this season, Lecocq was ejected, thereby earning himself a ticket out of town. I determined right then and there that he would not be with Dover next season. Predictably, Man U revved up their offense in the second half to hand us a 2-0 loss. Next up was a Wednesday April 16 game at Watford. It would be our first mid-week game in a while.

Lecocq was hit with a 5 game ban which I appealed. Even though it was a midweek game, every one of the regulars was rested enough for the game at Watford. Miller quickly gave Dover the 1-0 lead after just five minutes, a lead which held at the half. Watford sealed their own fate late in the game when Bater tipped the ball back into his own goal, giving Dover the 2-0 victory. Next up was an away match at Nott. Forest on Saturday. The FA told me that the five game bans on Lecocq would stand.

The regulars were all tired for the game against Forest, but the only ones to get the day off were Perez, replaced by Munoz and McCabe, replaced by Rosales. The game began and ended as a 0-0 draw as Dover strangled Forest’s offense, but couldn’t land a shot themselves. The next game would be in a week, with a home game against Leeds. Dover was now in 6th place and we were going to try and keep it that way.

Leeds came to the Crabbe on April 26 for our last game in April. The lineup saw all the regulars start, except for Descamps, replaced by Miller and the suspended and disgraced Lecocq, replaced by Paterson. The 19000 fans were quieted by Makaay, who scored on four to give Leeds the quick 1-0 lead. However, Leeds lost Yates to ejection just ten minutes later. Craig converted a penalty on the half-hour to tie the game back up. Ten minutes to the end, Robertson, who had some in for Faure, drilled a goal to give Dover the 2-1 lead. But, the ref, who had been carding players all day, handed Miller a red to even up the sides at ten apiece. Fortunately, Dover was able to hang on during the last minutes to preserve the win. There were only two games left in the season. Our next to last game would be in almost a week and half, a home game against Chelsea on May 5.

retired_karamelkel

Miller was suspended for three games by the FA. I immediately appealed the ruling. A day later, the FA dismissed the appeal. This irritated me. One good thing about West Ham was that the FA revoked almost all bans on appeal. This FA seemed to be far harsher and I was still adjusting to this fact. Craig’s agent called me the day of the Chelsea game, telling me that Michael wanted a new contract. But, when I talked to the player himself, he did not want a new contract. Still, I made an offer that would make him the highest paid player on Dover. I made the offer, and then filled out the lineup card for the Chelsea game. All the regulars got the nod and Miller continued to play in place of Descamps. The 19000 fans saw a tough grinding first half. Both Dover and Chelsea could not get their offense going. Both sides took two shots each, missing on all of them. Chelsea scored on 76 to take the 1-0 victory as Clark missed a late penalty, only the second penalty shot Dover missed this season. The last game of the year would be at Newcastle in two weeks. In the run-up to the Newcastle game, Craig rejected the offer I had made. I made another offer, but I had the feeling that Craig would reject it. Since he also refused to discuss a new contract, I had the feeling that he would be out the door soon. No surprised then that he rejected the offer a couple days later. I made one more offer. Again, Craig rejected an extremely generous offer. With that, I knew the situation was hopeless. I put Craig up for sale, hoping to frighten him into signing a new deal. The ploy, of course, didn’t work. But, we did have some roster successes. First, Main was given to Crewe for free. Then, we sold Quinn to Wycombe for 500K pounds. A few days later, we traveled to Newcastle for the last game of the season. The same lineup as the last couple games except that Miller was serving the first game of his suspension and Robertson took his place in the lineup. We played well in the first half. Batricle headed in a Faure corner on 40 to give Dover the 1-0 lead. We did a credible job of stopping Newcastle offense, holding them to 2 shots. We sealed the win just minutes of the second half when Foulon broke down the defense off the dribble and planted a shot into the goal.

The win solidified our final league position which was 6th. Chelsea won the Prem with 81 points. I was glad the season was over. The finances were given a much needed boost when we were awarded 3.8M pounds for finishing sixth in the Premier.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * English Premier Division - Sunday 18th May 2008********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2007/8 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Chelsea 38 14 1 4 40 15 12 2 5 29 20 81 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Man Utd 38 15 4 0 36 11 9 4 6 29 22 80 3rd Liverpool 38 14 5 0 40 16 9 4 6 24 22 78 4th Arsenal 38 12 6 1 42 16 10 3 6 28 25 75 5th Leeds 38 12 1 6 30 18 7 6 6 30 27 64 6th Dover 38 9 7 3 22 8 7 5 7 21 21 60 7th Nottm Forest 38 6 8 5 16 14 9 3 7 18 18 56 8th Fulham 38 11 7 1 33 16 4 3 12 18 31 55 9th Everton 38 12 4 3 22 9 3 6 10 19 34 55 10th Ipswich 38 11 3 5 34 25 5 3 11 18 28 54 11th Tottenham 38 8 7 4 33 24 4 6 9 27 34 49 12th Newcastle 38 10 3 6 37 31 4 4 11 15 28 49 13th Derby 38 8 6 5 29 18 4 5 10 19 27 47 14th Charlton 38 7 5 7 20 19 4 6 9 14 21 44 15th Watford 38 8 3 8 26 22 3 6 10 22 34 42 16th Bolton 38 7 4 8 26 30 2 5 12 10 29 36 17th Millwall 38 4 5 10 23 29 4 6 9 17 31 35 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th R Sunderland 38 7 4 8 22 20 0 7 12 10 35 32 19th R Aston Villa 38 4 5 10 14 22 4 3 12 14 34 32 20th R Oldham 38 4 4 11 15 32 1 5 13 13 39 24 ************************************************** ********************************************** Dover Athletic - Sunday 18th May 2008********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2007/8 Senior Club Stats============================================= ================================================== =No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 Abiven, Olivier 48 (1) 0 38 0 1 0 1 0 7.22 6 Aimar, Maximiliano 28 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 7.18 3 Baticle, Régis 45 3 0 0 2 6 0 6 7.71 - Bridard, Didier 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Brown, Colin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 16 Candela, Stéphane 0 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 26 Clark, Ian 10 (17) 5 0 2 (1) 1 0 1 0 6.85 10 Craig, Michael 54 18 0 5 (5) 1 1 0 4 7.44 - Cunningham, John - - - - - - - - ---- - Cunningham, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - David, Gilles - - - - - - - - ---- 31 Descamps, Julien 23 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 6.61 19 Diawara, Patrice 40 (1) 0 0 0 1 11 0 3 7.37 - Djorkaeff, Karim - - - - - - - - ---- - Duriez, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- 24 Faure, Ghislain 41 3 0 0 10 2 0 0 6.78 28 Foulon, Fabien 37 13 0 0 6 1 0 3 7.35 25 Gatumel, Hervé 3 (1) 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 6.75 - Hughes, Andrew 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 30 Landrin, Fabrice 9 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.22 14 Lavagne, Fabrice 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.00 15 Lecocq, Pascal 41 5 0 0 3 7 3 1 7.05 7 Main, David 25 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.76 - McAlpine, Scott 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - McAuley, Paul 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 29 McCabe, John 19 0 0 0 1 7 0 0 7.11 27 McCann, Andy 3 (7) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.70 - McMillan, Scott 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 32 McNab, Marc 14 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.00 21 Miller, John 30 (5) 3 0 0 8 2 1 1 6.80 5 Munoz, David 6 (3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.56 - Murray, Graeme - - - - - - - - ---- 23 Murray, Kenneth 18 (6) 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.79 - O'Donnell, Mark 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Orr, Ian - - - - - - - - ---- - Oumouri, Gilles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 12 Paterson, Gary 18 (4) 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.82 2 Perez, David 43 3 0 0 5 5 0 4 7.35 20 Poggi, Daniel 9 (8) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.94 - Poueys, Daniel - - - - - - - - ---- 17 Quinn, Stuart 11 (3) 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 6.64 13 Renard, Frédéric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 22 Ritchie, James 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Robert, Bruno - - - - - - - - ---- 4 Robertson, Stuart 12 (14) 5 0 0 2 2 0 1 7.08 18 Rosales, DarÃ*o 22 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 6.45 9 Sinclair, Iain 9 (6) 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.33 - Thomson, Ian 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Trivino, Jean-Marc - - - - - - - - ---- - Watson, David - - - - - - - - ---- </pre>

retired_karamelkel

A couple days after the season was over, I sat by myself at the Sea-Side Pub. It was late in the evening and I had come in for my weekly two pints of the local stout. I was halfway through the first pint when a man wearing a Foulon jersey approached the table. He started talking in a rush, the usual blather about how nice it is to meet the manager of his favorite team and all. I gestured for him to take a seat. I didn’t normally invite strangers to sit down, but it was a slow night and I had a feeling this conversation might be important. Besides, the season was over, so there was no vital information that I could disclose by accident. He stared at me, sat down and signaled the barman for another scotch. He leaned across the table.

“Pascal, my name is Roger Bellamy and I’ve been a Dover fan all my life.�
I stayed polite, “Have you now?�

“Yes Pascal, I have and I truly admire the way you’ve taken the club from the Conference to the Prem in such a short time.�

“Mm� I said as I sipped my stout. I really hoped he wouldn’t pursue this line of inquiry too far, or I’d look like an ass, or worse, a blithering idiot.

“Yes sir…I remember Xavier well.�

“Yeah, he was a great player.� I lied through my teeth. I had no clue of whom Bellamy spoke.

“What ever happened to him Pascal?�

“Haven’t the faintest idea.�

Bellamy, sensing the stonewall and obviously wanting to continue his conversation with a real live manager switched tacks. “So Pascal, what are your summer plans?�

I shrugged, “Shuffle the roster some, just like any other team.�

When I failed to provide details, Roger looked crestfallen. He tried one more gem, “Pascal, I searched the internet for information on you and guess what I found?�

I grimaced, “No doubt something awful right?�

“No Pascal, it was just something very strange.�

“Mr. Bellamy, do me the favor and stop calling me Pascal/�

“But sir…�

“Call me Mac.�

“Ok Mac... I found this website…� Bellamy’s voice trailed off

“And?�

“Well Mac, it’s just that I saw your name…and it was a blog�

“Yeah so?�

“But you don’t get it. It had you managing a team you would hate.�

“What team?� I knew where he was going with this, but I’d be damned if I was going to help him along.

“A London club, West Ham.�

“Really, how interesting.�

“But sir, it demeans you; after all it defames you by claiming that you currently manage West Ham.�

“Must be a fan fic then.� I took a swallow of stout.

“But it claims to be the truth. Someone is out to ruin your reputation. Everyone knows you hate the English/�

“Mm� The stout in my glass was low now and I nursed it.

“You should sue the writer and the website for libel!� Bellamy cried

I looked Bellamy straight in the eye. “I once had a player named Cisse, H was a brilliant striker for me in one magical season when the club finished 6th in the league. The next year Cisse was sold to a German club for 10 million pounds. Since then, the club has never been the same. The Alliance and Chairman Brown saw to that.�

Bellamy looked confused, “huh, what are you talking about?�

“My tenure at West Ham.� I replied icily.

I stood up and walked out of the pub, leaving a very stunned and confused Roger Bellamy sitting at the table. Served him right. He insulted my club.